This was the climax of my summer hut tour and rightly so. After a relative rest day (down from the Riemannhaus, washing, chilaxing in the Erlebnisbad Sommerstein and a bus to the friendly Erichhutte) I was raring to go, faced a small delay waiting for some Pals whom mistakenly, without map, set off from the Pichlalm parkplatz.
The climb was constantly challengeing (not for the challenged germans I found on the Watzmann) after a couple of hours its hard to resist grabbing the cable and pulling. We were Gob smacked to be over taken by an older gentleman without harness looking like he'd set off to go Jogging around a park. The Flying fox without a pulley was irresistable and lead to potty mouthed outbursts.
Since my first Skiing holiday to Muehlbach I have wanted to climb to the top of this mountain. Looking down from the top I had to hold back the tears.
Continuing onto the Matrashaus took a little longer than expected, thoughts of Radler and chocolate bars over came tired legs. In fact the whole route took longer 7hrs, Erichhutte to Matrashaus.
I passed the whole evening in ore of the surrounding valleys and mountains, nervously giggling as a thunderstorm swept in over my Pals as they desended the Birgkar on route to their distant car. Bellends.
Morning, as the sun came up over the Dachstein I could not resist pumping R Strauss's Alpen Symphony through the ipod. This is what I live for and I if lived up hear I'd wake up Muenchen every day blasting Strauss through the biggest speakers.

It wasn't too difficult (C/D); the challenge lay in its length (time/elevation gain), popularity, and the descent.
Fantastic views, good handholds and steps, very enjoyable.
Friday night we bivvied in a parking lot. We set out at 6 on Saturday morning, but the weather wasn't looking good. After gaining 1000 m, we were at the start of the route by 8; however, it was raining and thunderstorms were forecast for the afternoon, so we gave up our plan. (Many others also turned back, but some people remained unfazed and set out. In the afternoon we talked to two guys who had had a blast despite the rain, wind, hail and often low visibility.) To salvage the day, we climbed a smaller summit (Taghaube), and spent the remainder of the day resting and acclimatising in Erichhütte, between the parking lot and the start of the steig. On Sunday, we left the house at 5:30 (I already saw some headlamps moving up at 4), and made the start of the route by 7. The weather was fabulous (a full moon and sunrise on the surrounding peaks and mountain groups). While we were making our way up the many switchbacks, we spotted several lights in the route, and in daylight, at the start of the steig we saw the climbers themselves: hordes ahead of us and also behind us. Everybody seemed to be capitalising on the sunshine after the previous poor day... Some faster climbers occasionally overtook us (there was an older guy who did the entire route without ferrata equipment, probably under a fraction of the recommended time), while the route itself seemed like a roller-coaster (we climbed many towers, only to descend to the bottom of the next one). We were at the top of the route by 11, and the summit, slightly further away, at noon. There is a direct route of descent leading back to the start, but it is quite exposed/dangerous, so we opted for a 4-hour detour to reach the cars at Arthurhaus. This version also took a lot of our energy in concentration, and our feet and knees were also aching by the end. I am not sure which descent I would choose next time.
What I would do different:
- Start out even earlier. You can walk up to the start in the dark. I would start the route at sunrise. You might avoid or lessen the crowds this way (the route is very popular), the weather is probably more stable in the morning, and you need to spend less time under the scorching sun.
- There is a gap between two towers, offering two variations of the route: down then up, or via a slightly sloping wire spanning the void. We climbed over the latter with carabiners, but a pulley could have come handy.

These were two exceptionally beautiful days I had back then! I started at 16:00 at the Arthurhaus, and went up to the Eduard-Matras-Haus on the Hochkönig's very highest point on 2941 meters in four hours. It was a gorgeous late summer afternoon, and by the time I reached the Übergossene Alm, the sun had begun to set, so that I was dived in the colors of the alpine glow. An unforgettable moment! I stayed overnight at the hut. It was full moon that night and the entire Berchtesgaden Alps were illuminated - an awesome sight! And to the south I had the entire chain of the Tauern in the moonlight! Next morning was still beautiful, so I explored a bit the west side of the Hochkönig group before going back down the same way to the Arthurhaus.

started with a climb on a satellite peak, which I think is called Torsaule (?). Lovely route up a sort of rock ridge, very easy and well bolted but good exposure. Then decided to walk to hochkonig. We should have had skis. Loads of waist deep snow, it took us hours.